Beltfish

choi

Jeff Gordinier, Casting a Wider Net; Lesser-known, more sustainable fish are landing on menus. New York Times, Dec 23, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/2 ... stainable-fish.html
("At Chaya, in downtown Los Angeles, freakish-looking outliers from Japan like beltfish and red cornet are served to your table in a medley of ways, from sashimi to tempura. Flying them halfway around the world may not count as an eco-friendly gesture, but these oceanic oddities are a far cry from being decimated the way cod has. ‘Hopefully they’ll try something new and not just those fishes that are overfarmed and overcaught,’ said Jenni Hwang, director of marketing for the Chaya Restaurant Group")

Excerpt in the window of print: Many people aren't even aware that many of these fist exist, or that they are even edible.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this report in the weekly Food section.
(b) When I read the quotation, it dawns on me that in US I have not seen beltfish in supermarkets, restaurants, news reports, or advertisements.  My thought was beltfish live in the Far East only, which is untrue, according to en.wikipedia.org. See next. (So I do not know why Chaya the restaurant can not source locally beltfish, which is said to be common in Los Angeles (Web says so).)
(c) In print but not online, this NYT food report carries photos of beltfish, red cornet among other fish the reporter tries to introduce to Americans.
(d) largehead hairtail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largehead_hairtail
(also beltfish; Trichiurus lepturus; in Japan: 太刀魚; found throughout the tropical and temperate oceans of the world)

In Taiwan: 白帶魚

(e)
(i) Japanese English dictionary:
* chaya 茶屋 【ちゃや】 (n): "tea house"
* tachi/ daitō 太刀(P); 大刀(P) 【たち(P); だいとう(大刀)(P)】 (n): "long sword"
* kara 幹; 柄 【から】 (n): "(1) (arch[itecture]) trunk; stem; stalk; (2) shaft (of an arrow); (3) handle"
(ii) The ja.wikipedia.org says a tachi is a 日本刀 that is more than "2尺（約60cm)."  (Another page of ja.wikipedia.org says that in Japan 1尺 = 30.3cm, whereas in China 1尺 = 33.3cm.  One foot is 30.48cm.)

(f)
(i) red cornetfish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_cornetfish
(Fistularia petimba; found in tropical oceans worldwide; In Japan, they are called aka-ya-gara 赤矢柄; アカヤガラ "red arrow shaft"))
(A) The "kara" is the Japanese pronunciation of kanji 柄. See (e)(i).
(B) The ja.wikipedia.org says the genus name (Fistularia) is derived from Latin noun feminine fistula pipe. (In English, a fistula is a medical term with a somewhat different meaning.)
(C) I did not see it in Taiwan.
(ii) cornet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornet